Good Samaritan rescues elderly woman from pit-bull attack

A man with a baseball bat rescued a 76-year-old woman being attacked by a pit bull Tuesday in San Jacinto. The woman was hospitalized and the dog has been quarantined.

"She had bites on her arm, her side and the back of her legs. I mean there was just blood everywhere," said Jose Reyes, who rescued the victim from the dog.

Reyes says the dog attacked the 76-year old woman along Commonwealth Avenue. He was inside a home Tuesday afternoon when he heard screaming.

"I thought it was a fistfight, because it's a rough neighborhood here, so when I looked out the window to see what was going on, I just saw the dog attacking her, I grabbed my bat and ran out," said Reyes.

The 2-year-old pit bull had not been neutered.

"The first thing that I just thought about was 'Hit the dog in the face,' but then I figured if I hit the dog in the face I'm going to end up hitting this lady, and my adrenaline was pumping so I just started hitting him in the body, but the dog wouldn't let go," said Reyes.

Reyes says he and a couple other people were all trying to get the dog off the woman. He can't remember how many times he hit the dog with the bat before it finally let go.

The owners of the dog live two doors down the street.

"There's kids and stuff here, we got a whole bunch of kids here, so they play with the dog all the time," said Joe Navas, the dog-owner's nephew. Navas said the dog had never attacked anyone before.

Navas said the pit bull, named "Beast," followed another one of their pit bulls out of the yard through an open gate just before the attack.

"She [the other dog] was barking at the lady, and then that's when he got out of the yard, he ending up getting out of the yard after her," said Navas.

The dog was taken to an animal shelter for a 10-day quarantine. It's likely he'll be euthanized. Charges were not expected for the dog's owner.

The woman is alert and in stable condition, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Other people on the street are calling Jose Reyes a hero. But he doesn't think he is.

"Well I'm not a hero, I just committed an action that anybody would do," said Reyes. "I just ran by pure instinct, just help. That's what I'm here to do is just help."